JOIN USAs FM Sitharaman defended govt on inflation, Opposition MPs staged walkout
The Lok Sabha Monday saw a thaw in the deadlock between the government and Opposition with the Speaker revoking the suspension of four Congress MPs ahead of a discussion on price rise. Monday’s proceedings saw the first concrete discussion on the floor of the House during the Monsoon Session, which has been marred by the Opposition's relentless demands for talks on price rise and inflation.
Even as several Opposition MPs including Congress’s Manish Tewari, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Kanimozhi and Trinamool Congress’s Kakoli Ghosh cornered the government on rising prices and inflation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended the government’s action saying that India has come out of the pandemic as the fastest growing economy, as per global estimates.
Congress’s Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked if India is headed towards stagflation, to which FM Sitharaman said that if it is, then this wouldn't be the first time.
“I have no difficulty conceding to the point that inflation existed even before the pandemic, but the question is, at what level? A Bloomberg survey of economists has said there is zero probability of India slipping into recession, even though there are several major economies that are in substantial risky positions of getting into recession,” Sitharaman said.
On the issue of rice in edible oil prices, Sitharaman said that the Centre has reduced customs duty on crude palm oil from 35.75 per cent to first 8.25 per cent and now to 5.5 per cent only and that edible oil prices were corrected. “The prices were corrected sharply in June, compared to May, with a maximum decline of 18.1 per cent coming in palm oil. Other oils have also seen correction in the range of 1 per cent to 7 per cent in the last month,” the finance minister said.
During this discussion, the Congress staged a walkout. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, who is the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, tweeted, “We heard nothing but self-praise and self-adulation (from the finance minister). At a time of back-breaking inflation and record price rise, such speeches are vulgar and the epitome of Marie Antoinette ‘let them eat cake’.”
Several BJP MPs, too, tried to defend the government, and party MP Nishikant Dubey said that India should thank the PM as the poor are getting two meals a day.
Congress MP Manish Tewari started the debate on price rise under Rule 193 and said that demonetisation and implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST) were responsible for the current state of the Indian economy. He said that the rise in the number of MNREGS workers was indicative of the state of the economy, and said only 40 crore people in India have jobs.
DMK MP Kanimozhi said that 50 lakh people lost their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic, and sought GST dues for Opposition-ruled states from the Centre.
MPs Nishikant Dubey and Jayant Sinha defended the BJP, with the former saying that India’s GDP was rising over the economies of global powers like the US and China. “If we look at Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Singapore, we will see inflation is rising everywhere and jobs are getting lost. Amid such a situation, if the poor are getting meals two times a day, free of cost then shouldn't we thank the prime minister,” Dubey said.
BJD MP Pinaki Misra said that today, over Rs 30 lakh crore in cash was in circulation which is double the cash pre-2016. He added that the revenue collected from oil bonds is only 3.4 per cent, and asked the government to lower fuel prices.
Earlier in the day, Speaker Om Birla urged the members to uphold the dignity of the House, following which Chowdury requested him to revoke the suspension of Congress MPs Manickam Tagore, Jothimani, TN Prathapan and Ramya Haridas. Revoking the suspension, Birla warned members to never get placards into the House.